Refresh Your Podcast Marketing | New Year Reset Series [Ep. 131]

 
 

Click play to refresh your podcast marketing:

 
 

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Overcast | Other Players

Here’s what to expect from this episode:

Happy New Year! I hope your holiday season was full of joy, relaxation, and all kinds of good things. In case you took a podcast break in December, welcome back!

Today marks the 5th and last episode of our New Year Reset Series, where we're looking at each piece of your podcast and determining how we can hit the reset button, tweak things for improvement, and head into the new year with renewed energy.

Today, we're looking at ways to refresh your podcast marketing. Because we want to consistently bring in new listeners and increase awareness around our shows.

So today, I'm sharing the difference between podcast marketing and podcast promotion, how they work together, and the different ways you can refresh your podcast marketing in 2024 (or any time)!

Topics covered:

  • The differences between podcast marketing and podcast promotion

  • Areas to refresh your podcast marketing in 2024:

    • Your cover art

    • Your show name

    • SEO within listening apps

    • Your podcast page on your website

    • Show notes on your website

    • Your social media

    • Your email signature

    • Make a collaboration list

Resources Mentioned:

favorite podcasting resources:

  • Sara Whittaker 0:01

    Your Podcast is a powerful tool that serves your audience and your business. But how do you manage it all bring in new listeners, and convert those listeners into customers. That's what this show is all about. Welcome to podcasting for educators. I'm Sara Whittaker, classroom teacher turn podcast manager, and I'm here to help you get the most out of your show, all while making an impact on other educators. Hey, and welcome back to another episode of podcasting for educators and our first episode that goes live in 2024. I hope that your holiday season was full of joy and relaxation, and all kinds of good things. In case you took a little podcast break during the month of December, I have been doing a new year reset series all throughout the month of December, and today will be episode five. And the last episode in this series, we've been looking at each piece of your podcast and determining how we can hit the reset button tweak things for improvement and head into this new year with a sense of renewed energy. Let me do a quick recap in case you are not caught up so far, they don't necessarily need to be listened to in any order. But in Episode 127, we reflected on your podcasts progress and visualized what's to come in the new year. And I know I just said they don't need to be listened to in any order. But I would actually recommend listening to that one first before you start the other episodes in this series. In episode 128. we reimagine your podcast routines with the decide once principle. In episode 129. We talked about re energizing your episode content. And then in Episode 130, we looked at reviving your audience engagement. So what are we going to be talking about today? Well, we've talked a lot about how we can tweak your routines and make your content that much stronger for existing listeners. But today, we're going to be talking about what you need to be doing to make sure that you are consistently bringing in new listeners and always increasing awareness around your show. And that is your podcast marketing. So we are going to look at what podcast marketing even is and how we can really refresh it in the new year. So that we are really making sure that we are bringing in new listeners on a consistent basis. So first, let's talk about what podcast marketing is. I think that we sometimes use the terms podcast marketing and podcast promotion interchangeably. And they are very related. But they do have two distinct purposes. But they are slightly different. So let's break down first what the difference is between podcast marketing and podcast promotion. And this is kind of the way that I see it. So you can let me know if you agree with this or not. But when I think of podcast marketing, I think the podcast marketing really encompasses a broad set of things aimed at building your podcasts brand, attracting and retaining an audience, and just increasing its overall visibility. So it really focuses on long term growth, long term engagement. So when we think about what podcast marketing books like, these are things like your branding, your social media, your email marketing, SEO, marketing is about creating a consistent and compelling image for your podcast, and building those long relationships with your audience. So really, I see podcast marketing as this ongoing process that's integrated in the core strategy of your podcast and it continues over time. So it's really when you're looking at marketing or sharing. We're raising awareness about your show as a whole. And then there's podcasts promotion, and I think of podcast promotion as kind of a subset of podcast marketing that specifically deals with short term efforts to increase the immediate visibility and reach of a podcast episode or maybe a series that you're doing. So that goal there with podcast promotion is to really boost listenership in a quick span of time for a specific piece of content. So, you know, if you're sharing about a particular episode, every single week, your newest episode, you're promoting that podcast, that's when I would use that word promoting. So this might be like a social media post about your latest episode. It might be your weekly newsletter talking about a specific episode. So it's those things that you're doing where you are drawing attention to a particular episode or some sort of event that's going on with your podcast. So podcast promotion tends to be a little bit more event driven, might have a little bit of a shorter timeline, and often revolves around the release of a new episode, versus that podcast marketing, which is really sharing about your show as a whole. Hopefully that makes sense. And both podcast marketing and podcast promotion, both of those things are really important to the overall success of your podcast. And they complement each other in achieving the goals that you have for your show. But they are slightly different. So hopefully, I did an okay job at explaining the difference between those two terms. Okay, so now that we've got that clarified, let's look at some ways that you can really refresh your podcasts marketing in the new year. So again, we are looking at those long term things that we can do that are consistently building our podcast brand, bringing in new listeners and sustaining our current audience. Since we are at the time of this recording, starting off a brand new year, this is just a really natural time of the year to feel that urge to really refresh things and make sure that good practices are in place. So that anybody who comes across you is very aware that you have a podcast, that's really our goal here. So if you want to kind of refresh your podcast marketing, the first thing that I would look at is your cover art. Now, I know that a lot of us, maybe you were super pumped to start your podcast, you were DIY and yet, maybe graphic design isn't your strong suit, I'm raising my hand over here as well. And you kind of just threw your cover art together when you first started your podcast, and it's probably served you just fine so far. But now would be a good time to really look at your cover art and think, Hmm, does this really look visually appealing? Does it look professional? Does it stand out among all the other podcasts, cover arts in my listener library, your cover really does matter. It is for sure one of the first things that is going to initially attract somebody to your show. I know that we've all heard that saying don't judge a book by its cover, but people will judge your podcast by its cover. So take a minute and think about whether or not your podcast cover art is something that you could improve. And this again, like cover art really does matter a lot more than I used to think that it mattered. I started to notice because I like to do this a lot. I like to really pay attention to my actions and my thoughts as a consumer, as somebody who buys other people's things, or listen to other people's podcasts, and really look at how I judge things, how I make my decisions on what to buy or what to listen to. And when I think about, you know, sometimes I'll go into like Apple podcasts and I'll search for a new show on a specific topic. And I have to say I do for sure judge a podcast by its cover. If there are two podcasts that have similar names, and are very clearly about a similar topic, but one has a better cover than the other, I am going to click on that one that has the better cover art first. And check that one out before I check the other one out and the other one might have better content. But that one with a really visually appealing cover art and professional looking cover art. I'm going to take a look at that one first. So think about that as you are kind of judging your own cover art.

    Sara Whittaker 8:33

    Number two here, and I'm hesitant to say this because I don't want you to feel like you have to make any huge, massive changes to your podcast. But the name of your show is something else that is really, really important. It is a huge piece of your podcast brand. And in turn, it plays a lot into your podcast marketing. If you haven't heard me say this before, the name of your podcast is one of the things that is searchable on those listening apps like Spotify and Apple podcasts. So if you right now have a really cutesy name for your show, or you have a name that has nothing to clearly do with what your podcast is about, then you might want to evaluate or reevaluate. I should say, the name of your podcast, a solid podcast name is going to be one that a stranger on the street could look at, or read and say, Oh, I know exactly what this podcast is about, or I know exactly who this podcast is for. So it plays not only into having really clear messaging, but it also plays into that searchability because you want to make sure that you have some sort of keyword or phrase that your ideal listener might be searching for within a listening app in order for your podcast to show up in their search results. Number three And this goes very well with number two, the name of your podcast. But number three is SEO within listening apps. Okay? There are certain things that you can do within your podcast host to make sure that you are leveraging SEO so that you are becoming more visible in search results when people are searching for things within their listening app. So again, things like your show name, your show description. Those are both things that are searchable, as well as your episode titles. Those are searchable too. So definitely take a look at those things. And I actually just created a brand new free resource for you. It's a 15 minute audit that you can do that will help you see if you are already leveraging SEO within listening apps, or if there are things that you might need to change in order to make yourself more visible on these listening apps. And when I say that these are simple changes, I mean that you really can make these changes in 15 minutes or less. I even on my audit, I break down like how many minutes, these things should take you to check and tweak if you need to edit things. And you can find that at podcasting for educators.com/audit. And again, that is a freebie for you. So make sure that you grab that so that that's something that you can honestly, you could do it today right after listening to this and mark that off your list and know that you have made some changes to make yourself more visible within those apps. Okay, the fourth way that you can refresh your podcast marketing is your podcast page on your website. And I'll even backtrack a little bit and ask Do you even have a podcast page on your website? Do you even have a website in general, I do believe that if you have a podcast for your business, you should have a podcast page on your website. This is going to act as kind of a home base for your podcast on your site that you own, it's going to add another professional element to your podcast. And if you already have one similar to what I said about your cover art, maybe in the beginning when you first were putting your show together to launch it, you kind of just threw up a podcast page and you didn't really have the time to put into making it look really nice. Well, this would be a good time to reevaluate that and see if there are some changes that you could make on your podcast page so that it is a little bit more professional visually appealing, and a place that you would be proud of sending people to drive traffic to your site. I did an episode it was episode 111 with Kristin Doyle. And we talked all about what to add to your podcast page on your website. So go and check out that episode, if you need some tips on what you should even put on your podcast page in the first place. Okay, the fifth way that you can refresh your podcasts marketing, very similar to number four is your show notes. So you've got your podcast page on your website. And then you want to have individual show notes for each of your episodes. Again, maybe when you first started your podcast, you told yourself, okay, I'm not I don't have the bandwidth right now to also do shownotes. But maybe at this point, you've had your podcast for one year or two years. It's time my friend to add those show notes to your podcast. This is going to help you with SEO, it's going to help drive more traffic to your website, you're going to more organically show up in people's search results when they are in Google, especially if you're being intentional with keywords that you're using in these show notes. If you're on Pinterest, it's going to be that place that you can drive people from your pins to those show notes on your website. Okay, the sixth way that you can refresh your podcasts marketing is to take a peek at your social media. I'm just going to quick run through some places that you should have your podcasts listed. Because if people come to your profiles on these social media apps, boom, they should know right away that you have a podcast, what the name of your podcast is so that they can go either click a link from your profile to listen or they can look it up on their phone really easily and find it. So this should be listed on your Instagram bio, you should have a highlight reel of it on your Instagram. I think it's always a good idea. You know, you can have those three pin posts on your feed that show up at the top making one of those a post about your podcast, not a specific episode. But your podcast in general, is a really great way to market your podcast. You do it once and then it's hands off and anybody who comes to your profile is going to be able to see that you have a podcast what it's about. You can give more details in the caption all of that. Okay, so that's Instagram Your Facebook page in your bio, you should have your podcast listed with a link for people to listen. And then some other places that you might be tick tock threads, YouTube, any other place that you are showing up in your profile or the bio, depending on that particular platform. LinkedIn, you should have your podcasts listed. Seventh way that you can refresh your podcast marketing this year is to check your email signature. Do you have your podcast listed on your email signature? If not, I would definitely recommend adding that. If you do have it, take a peek at it. Is it kind of outdated now is there something else that you want to add to it, maybe you could add some of the different apps that people can listen in on, you could add a link to it could add a little image of your cover art. There's lots of different things you can do with your email signature. But again, this is a place that you can be hands off marketing your podcast every time that you send an email. Alright, and then the last way that you can refresh your podcast marketing is to sit down and make a list of possible podcast collaborations for 2024. I have several episodes about podcast collaborations. One of those episodes is Episode 39, which is called Grow Your show through podcast collaborations. That's a great one to check out. That gives more specifics about different ways that you can collaborate with podcasters. You can do interviews swaps with each other. But there are also other ways that you can collaborate with podcasters. But again, the point of that is to get yourself in one of their episodes. Those episodes are evergreen, they're always going to live on once you have that interview or you even have a shout out on another podcast that's going to live on it's going to be a way to continuously market your podcast with no additional effort on your part. Okay, so to recap, those eight ways that you can refresh your podcast marketing in the new year is to reevaluate your cover art. Determine if you might need to change the name of your show. Look at your SEO within listening apps. Be sure that you download that new free 15 minute audit. That'll be in the show notes as well. Member for your podcast page on your website. Number five, your show notes on your website. Number six your social media, things like your Instagram bio, a highlight reel pin posts, number seven, your email signature, and number nine to make a list of possible podcast collaborations that you can have this year. Now you do not need to feel the need to go and do all eight of these things. But if you could even take one or two things that you could sit down for 20 minutes, and do today, I think that that would be a big accomplishment. And it would be a great way to get off on the right foot as you start the new year. During this reset series. I have ended all of these episodes by referring you back to previous episodes that you might want to go revisit or listen to for the first time that are related to today's topic. So some episodes that you might find helpful after listening to today's episode are episode 82.

    Sara Whittaker 18:21

    What does an effective podcast marketing strategy look like? With Jeremy ends? That was part of my organic growth series. It's one of my most downloaded episodes. It's a great conversation Jeremy is is a marketing expert. He's great at what he does, definitely check that one out. Episode 79 How To Get More podcast listeners with these five visibility strategies. If your ears kind of perked up when I started talking about SEO today, because you know that that's something that you need to focus on, check out episode 78 with Nina Gibson and episode 68 with Danielle gag Minh. Both of those are about SEO specifically for your podcast. And then the last episode that I would recommend is Episode 72, which is all about crafting, engaging and SEO friendly episode titles. That was a sneak peek at a live training that I did inside of the podcasting for educators prep school. All of those episodes along with that free 15 minute audit about your listening app SEO will be in the description for this episode and in the show notes for this episode, which you can find at podcasting for educators.com/episode 131. I really hope that you have enjoyed this New Year reset series. I hope it's gotten your wheels turning and given you some good ideas of things that you might want to focus on this year. So that you can just continue to take your podcast to the next level. create great content, bring in new listeners, retain those listeners and just have Have fun with your show. If you did enjoy this series, it would totally make my day if you would head to Apple podcasts, leave a five star rating and write a quick review. It'll only take you a minute or two. This just lets me know that you're listening that you're enjoying the content. And it helps other podcasters decide if this is a show that they want to listen to. Thank you so much for being here. I will be back next week to talk about a topic that I'm really excited about. We are going to be looking at some different ways that you can really leverage your library of podcast episodes. So all of those episodes that you've already done already air, they're out into the world and then maybe you kind of forget about them. We're going to talk about some ways that you can make sure that you are taking full advantage of them. I'll see you then. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. To keep this conversation going connect with me on Instagram at podcasting for educators. I'm always looking for an excuse to talk about podcasting. If you're looking for support and launching, managing or growing your podcast, check out my online course the podcasting for educators prep school at podcasting for educators.com/prep school. I'll see you here next time.

More about Podcasting for Educators:

Podcasting for Educators is the podcast for TpT authors and other online educators. It's a show that will help you get your podcast in front of those who need it most - teachers, counselors, literacy specialists, SLPs, parents, and more! Each week, Sara Whittaker and her guests will share top tips and actionable strategies that you will need in order to launch, manage, and grow your podcast. You’ll learn how to leverage your show to build long-lasting relationships with your audience and promote your TpT resources, courses, and memberships, all while providing valuable and accessible content!

Some links on this page are affiliate links. This helps to support this podcast at no additional cost to you.

 
Sara Whittaker